Osteospermum ecklonis cultivar Seidacre.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Osteospermum plant, botanically known as Osteospermum ecklonis, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Seidacrexe2x80x99.
The new Osteospermum is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Gunma-den, Japan. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Osteospermum cultivars with interesting floret colors.
The new Osteospermum originated from a cross made by the Inventor in April, 1986 of two unidentified selections of Osteospermum ecklonis, not patented. The new Osteospermum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross grown in a controlled environment in Gunma-den, Japan.
Asexual reproduction of the new Osteospermum by terminal vegetative cuttings was first conducted in Gunma-den, Japan on Jun. 1, 1991. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Osteospermum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Seidacre has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Seidacrexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Seidacrexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Osteospermum:
1. Compact, mounded and outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit.
3. Freely flowering habit.
4. Pale yellow-colored ray florets and dark purple-tipped disc florets.
Plants of the new Osteospermum differ from plants of the female parent, an unidentified selection, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Osteospermum are shorter than plants of the female parent.
2. Plants of the new Osteospermum flower earlier than plants of the female parent.
3. Ray florets of plants of the new Osteospermum are pale yellow in color whereas ray florets of plants of the female parent are white in color.
Plants of the new Osteospermum differ from plants of the male parent, the unidentified Osteospermum selection, primarily in ray floret coloration.
Plants of the new Osteospermum are similar in ray floret coloration to plants of the cultivar Cape Daisy Maputo, not patented. However, plants of the new Osteospermum are more outwardly spreading and more freely flowering than plants of the cultivar Cape Daisy Maputo.